My thoughts on the Phillies season.

Phils extra-innings win over the Marlins increase their lead in the NL East to six games over both the fish and the Braves.

The Phils almost blew a fine start by Cole Hamels, but they finally defeat the pesky fish in extra-innings, 6-5. The victory increase their lead in the NL East to six games over both the Marlins and the Braves.

The Phils took a quick 2-0 lead as, with a runner on third, and one man ouit, Chase Utley hits a two-run home run, his twenty-first home run of the year, knocking in Jimmy Rollins, who had earlier singled and had moved to third on Shane Victorino’s ground out, 4-3. The Marlins cut the Phils’ lead in their half of the first as Chris Coghlan hits a lead-off home run, his third home run of the season, making it a 2-1 Phils’ lead. The Phils increased their lead in the fourth as, with two men on, and one man out, Jayson Werth hits an RBI single, knocking in Ryan Howard, who had earlier singled and had moved up to second on Raul Ibanez’s single, making it a 3-1 Phils’ lead, while Ibanez, who had earlier singled, would move up to third. The next batter, Pedro Feliz, would make it a 4-1 Phillies’ lead as he hits an RBI double, knocking in Ibanez, while sending Werth over to third. As the Phils were building up their lead, Phils’ starter Cole Hamels was going through the Marlins’ line-up with little trouble, getting out the last six man in a row, before the rain came down in the middle of the sixth inning. After a rain delay that lasted over an hour, the Phils replaced Hamels with Chan Ho Park. In the seventh, the Marlins made it a 4-2 Phils’ lead as, with one man on, and one man out, pinch hitter Ross Gload hits an RBI single, knocking in Ronny Paulino, who had earlier doubled. The Marlins cut the Phils’ lead further in the eighth as, with two men on, and two men out, Paulino hits an RBI single, knocking in Hanley Ramirez, who had earlier singled, and had moved up to second on Cody Ross’ ground out, 5-3, making it a 4-3 Phils’ lead. Two batters later, with runners on first and second, thanks to Jeremy Hermida’s walk which would move Paulino up to second base, pinch hitter Wes Helms hits an RBI single, scoring Paulino, tying the game up at four-all, while sending Hermida up to second base. The Phils would regain the lead in the twelfth inning as, with one man on, and one man out, Utley hits an RBI single, knocking in Rollins, who had earlier singled and had moved up to second on Victorino’s sacrifice bunt, making it a 5-4 Phillies’ lead. Three batters later, with two men on, and two men out, Werth hits an RBI single, knocking in Utley, who had moved up to second base when Paul Bako was intentionally walked, making it a 6-4 Phils’ lead. In the bottom of the twelfth, with two men on, and two men out, Paulino, who had earlier walked, had moved up to second on Hermida’s walk, and had gone to third on pinch hitter Chris Volstad’s sacrifice bunt, scored on Brad Lidge’s wild pitch, making it a 6-5 Phils’ lead, while sending Hermida on to third. Lidge would then end the game by getting Dan Uggla to ground out, 4-3, for the final out, recording his nineteenth save.

Cole Hamels pitched a no-decision, going five innings, giving up only one run on four hits and a walk, while striking out five. Chan Ho Park pitched two innings, giving up a run on three hits, while striking out two, recording his seventh hold. Ryan Madson pitched two-thirds of an inning, recording his sixteenth hold, although giving up two runs on two hits, while striking out a batter. J.C. Romero would pitch to one batter, walking him. Chad Durbin would pitch an inning and a third, recording his first blown save, giving up two hits and two walks, while striking out two batters. Scott Eyre pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a walk, as he struck out two. Clay Condrey, back from his injury, got the win as he pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit. Brad Lidge recorded his nineteenth save of the year, as he gave up a run on two walks. Ricky Nolasco also received a no-decision as he pitched six innings, giving up four runs on seven hits and two walks, while he struck out five. Renyel Pinto, Dan Meyer, Kiko Calero and Leo Nunez would combine for four shut out innings, giving up only two hits (Nunez), while striking out five Phils (Pinto (1), Calero (1), Nunez (3)). Burke Badenhop took the lost, as he gave up two runs on three hits and a walk. His record is now 5-4 with an ERA of 3.67.

The Phillies had twelve hits in the game. Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Raul Ibanez and Jayson Werth led the way with two hits each, with Utley’s hit being a two-run home run. Pedro Feliz and Greg Dobbs had the other two Phils’ hits, with Dobbs’ hit being a pinch hit single. Utley knocked in three of the Phils’ runs, while Werth knocked in two and Feliz knocked in one. The Phils have increased their lead in the NL East to six games over both the Braves and the Marlins, while increasing their winning streak to seven games. The Phils will now go for the series win while trying to increase their lead in the division to seven games and their winning streak to a season high eight.

The Phillies (50-38, 1st) will continue their four-games series with the Marlin (46-46, 2nd-T) with a night game. The game will be played at Land Shark Stadium and will begin at 7:10 pm. The Phils will send to the mound Joe Blanton (6-4, 4.44), who is coming off a win against the Pirates on July 10, as he pitched seven and one-third innings, giving up only one run on four hits and one walk, while striking out six, in the Phils’ 3-2 win. He will be going for his seventh win of the season. The Marlins will counter with Josh Johnson (8-2, 2.74), who is coming off a win against the D-backs on July 12, as he pitched six and two-third innings, giving up a run on seven hits and two walks, while striking out seven, in the Marlins’ 8-1 win. He will be trying to stop the Marlins’ present slide against the Phils. The Phils will be trying to continue breaking away from the rest of the NL East.

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